WAR and VIOLENCE:

ROMANESQUE ART
(The Bayeux Tapestry)
ROMANESQUE ART: THE
BAYEUX TAPESTRY

Online Links:

The Bayeux Tapestry - Wikipedia

The Bayeux Tapestry - Links to various Videos

Horrible Histories: Battle of Hastings News at:

1066 AD

Animated Bayeux Tapestry

Britain's Bayeux Tapestry Scene by Scene

Bayeux Tapestry 1070-1080, wool on linen
 The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth—not an
actual tapestry- nearly 70 meters (230 ft) long, which
depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of
England in 1066 concerning William, Duke of Normandy
and Harold, Earl of Wessex and culminating in the Battle
of Hastings. The tapestry consists of some fifty scenes with
Latin captions, embroidered on linen with colored woollen
yarns. It is likely that it was commissioned by Bishop Odo,
William's half-brother, and made in England in the 1070s.
In 1729 the hanging was rediscovered by scholars at a time
Bishop Odo when it was being displayed annually in Bayeux
Cathedral.
In 1066, Edward the Confessor, the Anglo-Saxon king of England,
died. The Normans believed Edward had recognized William of
Normandy as his rightful heir. But the crown went to Harold, earl
of Wessex, the king’s Anglo-Saxon brother-in-law.
 The individual sequences of the succeeding events are separated by means
of stylized landscape formations and architectural elements. Far from
interrupting the narrative flow, this device helps to keep it going, since the
shapes of buildings, trees or hills effectively point to the following scene. The
narrative is framed above and below by a decorative border. Extending the
entire length of the linen, these are filled with symbolic animals whose
relation to the main action remains obscure.
One of Aesop’s animal fables, of the fox and the
crow, occurs no fewer than three times in the
border to the tapestry. It depicts a crow, perched
on a high tree, with a piece of cheese in its beak.
The fox, who wants the cheese, appeals to the
crow’s vanity by asking whether its voice
compares to its physical beauty; when the crow
opens its beak to caw, the cheese falls to the
ground and is promptly eaten by the fox. One
interpretation identifies the fox with Harold, who
obtained his goal- the throne of England- by
deceit and guile. However, a pro-English
interpretation would identify the crow with
Harold, who was the obvious heir to the throne,
and who, by going to Normandy in 1064, allowed
himself to be ensnared by William’s subterfuge.
If this seems like over-interpretation, it should be
remembered that such fables were originally
devised by slaves as a means of criticizing their
masters, and that there was considerable
resentment felt by the native population in
England against the victorious Normans.
 The Song of Roland and the Bayeux Tapestry have much in common: Both
are epic in theme and robust in style. Both consist of sweeping narratives
whose episodes are irregular than uniform in length. Like the stereotypical
(and almost exclusively male) characters in the chanson, the figures of the
tapestry are delineated by means of expressive gestures and simplified
physical features; the Normans, for instance, are distinguished by the shaved
backs of their heads.
Another curious feature of the
borders is the presence of
various erotic figures. One
example is found underneath
the enigmatic scene of a woman
whose name is given as
Aelfgyva. She is shown
accompanied by an unknown
cleric under a doorway with
phallic-shaped columns. No
convincing explanation has been
provided for this scene. The
pose and the gesture of the
cleric, who caresses Aelfgyva’s
chin, are mimicked by a naked
figure in the border, whose
genitals are conspicuous. The
scene may allude to a sexual
scandal with which some of the
earliest viewers of the tapestry
would be acquainted.
 After ransoming Harold, William promises the English earl his daughter in
marriage. Here Harold is shown swearing allegiance to his new liege-lord.
The shrines on which his hands are laid contain relics. When Harold broke
his oath, mounting the English throne in 1066, William sought the
jurisdiction of the pope. Excommunicating the perjurious Harold, the pope
placed a papal standard at William’s disposal to accompany his Norman
troops. Williams’ campaign thus practically gained the status of a Holy War.
 Things looked rather different form Harold’s point of view. In swearing
allegiance to William, he had not been a free man. By paying Harold’s ransom,
the Norman duke had become his superior. Harold’s oath had acknowledged
fealty to William, but without it, he presumably could never have left Normandy
and returned to England. Furthermore, an English account of the event
contests that Harold’s oath was sworn on a table under which relics were
concealed- with Harold quite ignorant of the trap William had set for him.
Roland pledges his fealty to Charlemagne; from
a manuscript of a chanson de geste, c.14th
century

Feudalism was a set of legal and military

customs in medieval Europe that flourished
between the 9th and 15th centuries, which,
broadly defined, was a system for structuring
society around relationships derived from the
holding of land in exchange for service or labor.
Feudalism describes a set of reciprocal legal
and military obligations among the warrior
nobility, revolving around the three key
concepts of lords, vassals and fiefs. Before a
lord could grant land (a fief) to someone, he
had to make that person a vassal. This was
done at a formal and symbolic ceremony called
a commendation ceremony, which was
composed of the two-part act of homage and
oath of fealty.
 Harold leaves for home and meets again with the old king Edward, who
appears to be remonstrating (reprove or protest) with him. Harold is in a
somewhat submissive posture and seems to be in disgrace. However, possibly
deliberately, the king's intentions are not made clear.
 The scene then shifts by about one year to when Edward has
become mortally ill and the tapestry strongly suggests that, on
his deathbed, he bequeaths the crown to Harold.
 What is probably the coronation ceremony is attended by Stigand, whose
position as Archbishop of Canterbury was controversial. Stigand is
performing a liturgical function, possibly not the crowning itself. The
tapestry labels the celebrant as "Stigant Archieps" (Stigand the archbishop)
although by that time he had been excommunicated by the papacy who
considered his appointment unlawful.
Omens of the disastrous consequences to follow are provided by a comet (in
fact, Halley’s comet) in the border above Harold’s throne and the shadowy
outlines of ships beneath his feet.
 The Bayeux Tapestry was probably commissioned by a Norman and
essentially depicts a Norman viewpoint. However, Harold is shown as brave
and his soldiers are not belittled. Throughout, William is described as "dux"
(duke) whereas Harold, also called dux up to his coronation, is subsequently
called "rex" (king). The fact that the narrative extensively covers Harold's
activities in Normandy (in 1064) indicates that the intention was to show a
strong relationship between that expedition and the Norman Conquest
starting two years later. It is for this reason that the tapestry is generally seen
by modern scholars as an apologia for the Norman Conquest.
William built a fleet and prepared
it to carry his soldiers across the
Channel to England. The hanging
shows swords and a battle-axe
being carried to the ships, a cart
loaded with a row of twenty
spears, helmets ranged on posts
along the side of the wagon,
following which three men carry
suits of chain mail, the typical
armor of the day. In the centuries
that followed, chain mail was
replaced by solid coats of armor,
the spears by heavy lances. In the
eleventh century, however,
soldiers were relatively lightly
armed and still quite mobile.
 To help him take England, William, himself a descendant of the Vikings,
exploited the expansionist designs of the ruling Norwegian king, Harald
Hardrada. He persuaded him to invade Northumberland, the most northerly
county of today’s England. The Norwegians landed and forced Harold to march
north to meet them. The invading army was routed and the Norwegian king
killed in the struggle. Scarcely had Harold warded off the Norwegian attack
when William landed south of Dover. Harold rode swiftly south, arriving with
an army worn out after a hard-won battle and two forced marches.
The Bayeux Tapestry is unique in Romanesque art in that it depicts an event
in full detail at a time shortly after it occurred, recalling the historical
narratives of ancient Roman art. Like the account on the Column of Trajan,
the story told on The Bayeux Tapestry is the conqueror’s vision of history, a
proclamation of national pride. And as on Trajan’s Column, the narrative is
not confined to battlefield successes; it is a complete chronicle of events.
Included are the preparations for war, the loading of equipment onto the
vessels, the cooking and serving of meals, and so forth.
 The reasons for the Odo commission theory include: 1) three of the bishop's followers
mentioned in the Domesday Book appear on the tapestry; 2) it was found in Bayeux
Cathedral, built by Odo; and 3) it may have been commissioned at the same time as the
cathedral's construction in the 1070s, possibly completed by 1077 in time for display on
the cathedral's dedication. Assuming Odo commissioned the tapestry, it was probably
designed and constructed in England by Anglo-Saxon artists (Odo's main power base
being by then in Kent); the Latin text contains hints of Anglo-Saxon.

Eustace, Count of Boulogne, a French rather than Norman nobleman, is proposed as the
commissioner of the tapestry by Andrew Bridgeford. Accepting the arguments that the tapestry was
made in England, he suggests Eustace had it made as a gift to Odo of Bayeux after Eustace's failed
revolt of 1067. The tapestry give prominence to Eustace, naming him in one scene and appearing to
show him leading the charge of the Norman cavalry in another.
Since embroidery was almost exclusively a female occupation, it is likely
that the Bayeux Tapestry was the work of women- although women are
depicted only four times throughout the entire piece. When women do
appear in the tapestry, they are represented as passive victims.
When the battle reaches its dramatic climax the animals disappear to
make room for the turmoil of the battlefield, a device which
undoubtedly underlines the significance of the conflict.
 To our eyes the figures appear ungainly in their elongation, while to
contemporary viewers they would have been understood as a stylistic device
denoting elegance and nobility. The elongation allowed a high degree of
movement and variety of gesture.
William’s principal obstacle was the English axemen, who cut down even
their horses. Realizing the ineffectiveness of frontal attack, William used
cunning instead: making a pretense of retreat, he lured the English from
their position. With their powerful formation broken, the English were
no match for the Normans.
Here Bishop Odo brandishes his baton or mace and rallies
the Norman troops in battle.
Harold is shown with an arrow piercing one eye. The hanging shows the
maimed king struck down by a Norman cavalryman while attempting to
extract the arrow. The cavalryman was later banished by William,
according to one chronicle, for to kill a defenseless opponent constituted a
breach of chivalrous conduct. Another interpretation is that the injury is
symbolic of perjury.
 This room is hidden inside a forbidding fortress. In 1078, the victorious William the
Conqueror started to build the White Tower, the square keep at the heart of today’s
Tower of London. In it, he included this scintillating example of the style of building
known as Romanesque. The arches, columns and rounded vault of this ethereal chapel
are dazzling in their confidence and humble in their piety. It is a place that creates a
mood, still and sensitive and spiritual.
 Top Left: White Tower
(London); Top Right: Clifford’s
Tower (York); Botton Right:
Peveril Castle (Derbyshire)
 WAR and VIOLENCE:
ROMANESQUE ART
(The Bayeux Tapestry) ACTIVITES and REVIEW